Archers finish second

The state finished first runner-up in the 59th National School Games Archery Championship for U-19 boys and girls that concluded in Nashik on Friday, losing out to host Maharashtra by one gold.

Though Jharkhand boys and girls clinched a total of 16 medals, which was one more than what the home team won, they had to be happy with the second spot as Maharashtra bagged seven gold medals and Jharkhand brought home six.

At the end of the tournament, the medal tally for Jharkhand stood at six gold, four silver and six bronze, while that of Maharashtra was seven gold, four silver and four bronze. Delhi finished third with a tally of 12 medals — three gold, five silver and four bronze.

If the penultimate day was fair to girls, the concluding day was good for boys.

The Silli archer pocketed three medals, starting with a silver in the 30m distance and then went on to clinch the individual bronze. Sourav later joined teammates Deepak Gupta and Hemant Kumar to bag the event bronze.

The recurve team of Jaspal Singh, Aryan Shaw, Ashwin Gaikwad and Neel Madhav too added another bronze to the state medal tally.

“We are satisfied with the performance of our archers. Jharkhand could have done better had some of the players not missed the target by a whisker. However, the teenagers did try their best,” coach Anil Singh told The Telegraph over phone.